It is generally agreed that the faithless in verse 158a are fellow Israelites who do not keep Yahweh’s laws. The verb translated I look … with disgust appears also in 95.10 (“I loathed”). For verse 158b see similar but positive language in verses 67b, 134b, 145b.

For the sentiment in verse 159a, see verses 97a, 113b. With the verb Consider the psalmist calls Yahweh’s attention to his love for the Law. Good News Translation inserts the vocative “LORD” here, to make clear whom “Your” in line b refers to. For verse 159b see verses 40b, 107b, 156b; for according to thy steadfast love see verse 124a.

In verse 160 the Hebrew reads “The head of your word is ʾemet,” the word “head” here having the meaning of “sum, totality, substance, essence.” New Jerusalem Bible has “… the essence of Your word” (also New Jerusalem Bible). And the Hebrew word ʾemet is taken here by most commentators and translators to mean truth. New American Bible, however, has “permanence,” and Briggs and New Jerusalem Bible “faithfulness.” This may be preferable, since biblical writers rarely if ever speak of truth as an abstract concept (see Anderson). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “Your word, Lord, is true and trustworthy” (as in verse 142b). In many languages it is nearly impossible to find an expression for such abstract notions as “essence” or “totality.” Accordingly one must sometimes say, for example, “What you say, LORD, is true,” “Your words, LORD, are true,” or idiomatically sometimes, “LORD, your words are straight.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .